This simple Grape Salad Recipe is full of fresh red grapes, tossed in a sweet cream cheese dressing and sprinkled with brown sugar and pecans. It can be served as a side dish or dessert, and is perfect for spring and summer holidays and parties! If you’re looking for something a little different for your Easter menu, this would be a wonderful addition.
Can we talk about how I never even heard of grape salad until about a year ago? I saw a video for it in my Facebook feed and I thought it looked… interesting. I admit, I was totally skeptical.
Fast forward to about a month ago when we were at my in-laws for lunch and my mother-in-law served up grape salad. Remembering it from last year and still skeptical, I gave it a taste. It was… delicious! She’s since made it again for Sunday dinner and it was a massive hit, everyone wanted the recipe.
That night, I Googled “grape salad” and lo and behold, it’s totally one of those old recipes that it seems everyone and their grandma have a (very, very similar) recipe for… except for our family, apparently! It was new to all of us and we’re absolutely smitten!
Easy Grape Salad!
Here’s the breakdown of grape salad, which was nearly identical in every single recipe I found online…
Grapes (of course!) – either all red or a mixture of green and red
Cream cheese – 8 ounces, always
Sour cream – 1 cup, always
Sugar – Anywhere from ¼ to ½ cup
Vanilla Extract – Between 1 to 2 teaspoons
Brown Sugar – Anywhere from a few tablespoons to a full cup
Chopped Nuts – Usually walnuts or pecans, and again anywhere from a few tablespoons to a full cup
As you can see, there is a standard list of ingredients that was the same in every recipe I found, but some of the quantities varied, so feel free to play around with some of the amounts!
Recipe Notes for Grape Salad
You can use all red grapes (my favorite!), all green, or a mixture of the two based on your personal preferences.
I used full-fatcream cheese and sour cream because I wanted a nice, thick mixture. Low-fat alternatives have higher water content so if you use low-fat just be aware that your “dressing” could be thinner or slightly more watery.
For a lighter version, use yogurt in place of the sour cream.
Some recipes use Cool Whip and/or marshmallow creme along with the cream cheese, which also sounds utterly amazing.
You can sprinkle the brown sugar and pecans before chilling, and the brown sugar will sort of dissolve into the mixture (SO GOOD), but be sure to give it a stir before serving if you do this!
You definitely want to chill this for at least an hour before serving, but the longer the better, which makes this a perfect dish to prep the day before serving. I love how fresh and crisp the grapes stayed, even days later.
There are many recipes out there that include chopped up candy bars like Butterfinger or Snickers. Who am I to oppose that?!
How Many Cups Are in a Pound of Grapes?
1 pound of seedless grapes contains about 2.5 cups of grapes.
Heading into spring and summer, this is the absolute perfect side dish-slash-dessert when you want something light and refreshing.
Serve it up for Easter, Mother’s Day, graduation parties, Father’s Day, 4th of July, or any picnic or barbecue you find yourself invited to this year!
This simple Grape Salad Recipe is wonderfully fresh, creamy, and sweet. It can be served as a side dish or dessert, and is perfect for spring and summer holidays and parties!
In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together the cream cheese, sour cream, sugar and vanilla extract until smooth and thick, about 3 minutes.
Add the grapes to the bowl and, using a rubber spatula, gently fold the grapes into the cream cheese mixture until everything is evenly coated. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour before serving, or overnight.
Prior to serving, sprinkle with brown sugar and chopped pecans. Leftovers can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Recipe Notes:
You can use all red grapes (my favorite!), all green, or a mixture of the two based on your personal preferences.
I used full-fat cream cheese and sour cream because I wanted a nice, thick mixture. Low-fat alternatives have higher water content so if you use low-fat just be aware that your "dressing" could be thinner or slightly more watery.
You can sprinkle the brown sugar and pecans before chilling, and the brown sugar will sort of dissolve into the mixture (SO GOOD), but be sure to give it a stir before serving if you do this!
I have never posted a comment/review before but after tasting this I had no choice. So good, so simple. I have looked at this recipe several times and always thought I really wanted to make it and today I finally did. Yay for me. Will definitely make again and am planning on taking it to our EC Thanksgiving potluck. I know all those hungry emergency room employees will enjoy it. Thanks for a great recipe
A couple of years ago the NYT made a list of 50 Thanksgiving dishes, one per state, and chose grape salad to represent Minnesota. It is definitely not a common dish in MN nowadays, so it turned into a big fiasco — it sort of confirmed the stereotype that New Yorkers don’t really care about the midwest and just picked a random (and TBH, odd-sounding) dish to represent MN. Here’s a recap of all the responses: https://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/20/new-york-times-minnesota-grape-salad/ Your description of the dish actually sounds delightful! I only found one Minnesotan who knew what it was, but maybe grape salad is having a renaissance! ;) (It actually makes sense to me that Pittsburgh-area families would have a recipe for it. I bet it was sort of an upper-Midwest/rust belt kind of dish and it was included in one old-time Minnesota cookbook apparently.)
So funny, our family friend brought a date to one of our get-togethers and she brought Grape Salad. I was so nervous to try it and when I did, it was delicious! I never asked her for the recipe and I don’t remember any nuts in it, but I can’t wait to try this one, it looks amazing! Thanks Michelle!
I first had grape salad at a luncheon at my sisters church and begged her to please find out who made it and to ask for the recipe. It was deliciously refreshing and I couldn’t figure out what it was that made it tangy besides the cream cheese. This is it!! Love it! It’s definitely going on the menu today and I will do it again for Easter. Everyone loves it!
Yup, I made this last year and did a video and everyone went crazy over it. Who knew?! It was just an old recipe that my family always made but it’s seriously so good!
I have never posted a comment/review before but after tasting this I had no choice. So good, so simple. I have looked at this recipe several times and always thought I really wanted to make it and today I finally did. Yay for me. Will definitely make again and am planning on taking it to our EC Thanksgiving potluck. I know all those hungry emergency room employees will enjoy it. Thanks for a great recipe
This dish looks amazingly delicious, and I can hardly wait to make.
Hi, I love your blog! I have been following it for some time, but I think this is my first comment. This salad looks refreshing and delicious.
Another twist to the grape salad recipe is Butterfinger candy bars.
Ingredients
– 2 cups red seedless grapes
– 2 cups green seedless grapes
– 8 ounces cream cheese
– 8 ounces sour cream
– 1/2 cup sugar
– 4 Butterfinger candy bars, crushed
-1/4-1/2 cup pecans, crushed
A couple of years ago the NYT made a list of 50 Thanksgiving dishes, one per state, and chose grape salad to represent Minnesota. It is definitely not a common dish in MN nowadays, so it turned into a big fiasco — it sort of confirmed the stereotype that New Yorkers don’t really care about the midwest and just picked a random (and TBH, odd-sounding) dish to represent MN. Here’s a recap of all the responses: https://publiceditor.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/11/20/new-york-times-minnesota-grape-salad/
Your description of the dish actually sounds delightful! I only found one Minnesotan who knew what it was, but maybe grape salad is having a renaissance! ;)
(It actually makes sense to me that Pittsburgh-area families would have a recipe for it. I bet it was sort of an upper-Midwest/rust belt kind of dish and it was included in one old-time Minnesota cookbook apparently.)
So funny, our family friend brought a date to one of our get-togethers and she brought Grape Salad. I was so nervous to try it and when I did, it was delicious! I never asked her for the recipe and I don’t remember any nuts in it, but I can’t wait to try this one, it looks amazing! Thanks Michelle!
I was definitely nervous to try it, too! But wow, SO GOOD. I hope you enjoy it when you make it! You’re welcome! :)
I first had grape salad at a luncheon at my sisters church and begged her to please find out who made it and to ask for the recipe. It was deliciously refreshing and I couldn’t figure out what it was that made it tangy besides the cream cheese. This is it!! Love it! It’s definitely going on the menu today and I will do it again for Easter. Everyone loves it!
I’m glad the recipe eventually made its way to you via me, ha! Enjoy and have a Happy Easter!
Yup, I made this last year and did a video and everyone went crazy over it. Who knew?! It was just an old recipe that my family always made but it’s seriously so good!
That’s awesome! People definitely crave nostalgic recipes! Everyone loved this at our house!
Your family isn’t the only one that hasn’t heard of grape salad. It looks delicious and I’ll have to try it soon.
So happy to hear that, ha! Enjoy!
Yum!! It has been too long since I have had a grape salad. Wanna try this asap 😊
I hope you enjoy it!
Looks Yummy , I feel a great satisfaction when i try your recipe and get success almost ever time. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Aww thank you very much!
This salad looks so good! It reminds me something my mom used to make when I was growing up!
Thanks Kelly! I love recipes that remind me of things I ate when I was little!